Production designer Toni Barton stunned longtime hotel workers with ‘Fight Night: The Million Dollar Heist’
“It was such an Atlanta centric story that I, as a New Yorker, didn’t know,” claims Toni Barton about recreating history for “Fight Night: The Million Dollar Heist.” She explains, “When I went to Atlanta there were so many people that were familiar. Even shooting at the exterior of the house where the million dollar heist took place had the same next-door neighbor still living there.” She joined our recent “Meet the Experts” panel for production design awards contenders (watch above).
Barton is the production designer for the Peacock drama which tells the story of massive armed robbery that took place at Mohammad Ali’s after-party the night he returned to boxing after dodging the draft. The 1970-set show features an all-star cast including Kevin Hart, Taraji P. Henson, Don Cheadle, and Samuel L. Jackson. The designer explains her role was to, “recreate as much as possible. So people watching would go, ‘yes this is what it was like at this time. This is what this restaurant and that nightclub was like.’”
Some of her most ambitions work on the project was recreating the Hyatt Regency from 1970 (just a few years after it opened). This involved building sets and a location shoot. Barton says, “We built the Polaris bar, which is the rotating bar. We built the penthouse and one other hotel room. But we also shot in the Hyatt atrium space. We built walls and brought in furniture, dressing and trees; as many elements to make it look like 1970. There were several longtime hotel workers that had been there for over 40 years. They said this is what it looked like at the time. That was a joy to hear those stories.”
The production designer’s other TV projects include “Girls,” “Daredevil,” “Luke Cage,” and “The Defenders.” She reflects, “When I was in high school, I was working at an architecture firm. An engineer came to me saying I should be an engineer because they get to know so much about one thing. And one of the partners of the firm pulled me aside and said, ‘no you should be an architect, that way you get to know a lot about many different things.’ As a production designer we get to learn a lot about so many different things. Going into ‘Fight Night’ was learning about a place, time period, story, and culture that I knew nothing about – from before I was born. That’s indeed was a joy.”